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HanaKenji 17.04.27
Reply · by 1 Mar Guestbook

Travel & JapanCome back

Getting to a beachGetting back to a beach
on the far side
of Palawan

El Nido is worth the trouble and it is some trouble. Here is every leg, honestly timed, with the date each thing stops being cheap.

The same route, told for next April. The anniversary dinner is on the same terrace, a year on, and every one of you is asked.

The islands seen from the air on the approach into Lio.

The last twenty minutes

You will know
when you are close

The approach into Lio comes in low over the limestone. Sit on the left.

Approach into Lio Airport

Every leg

How to get here

Three routes in. The first is the easy one and the one most of you will take; the third is the cheap one and it costs you a day.

The route, to scale

Choose a mark for what is there and how far it is from Manila. The dashed line is the second flight, measured straight through the air — the aircraft does roughly that.

Every mark sits at its real coordinates and every distance is computed from them. Casa Marikit is invented for this design study — the airports, the town and the island are not. No coastline, road or runway is drawn, because that geometry cannot be sourced offline and guessing it would be a lie on a page about getting somewhere.

Into the country

Any international arrival into Manila (MNL). Terminals 1 and 3 both work; allow two hours to change terminals if you are unlucky.

varies

Nov 2026

Manila → El Nido
the easy way

Direct to Lio Airport (ENI), the small strip ten minutes from the venue. Two or three flights a day, small aircraft, 15 kg checked.

1 h 15

Nov 2026

Manila → Puerto Princesa
the cheap way

Then a van north. The road is sealed the whole way and genuinely beautiful for the last hour. Bring snacks and something for the bends.

1 h 20 + 5 h

Dec 2026

Lio Airport → Casa Marikit

A shuttle the couple have arranged. Put your flight number in your RSVP message and a van will be waiting with your name on it.

10 min

with your RSVP

Around Lio Estate

Everything is walkable. Tricycles run to El Nido town, twenty minutes south, for anyone who wants a night out of it.

on foot

—

There is no rail on Palawan and no ferry that helps — the island is long and the road is the road. Anyone told otherwise has been reading about a different province.

And the long table

Where you
all came from

Between you, — to one beach in El Nido: — times round the Earth. The farthest came from —.

The pavilion at the centre. Each town at its true bearing; the distance out is logarithmic, so the next island and the next continent fit one circle. No map is drawn.
    A bay of limestone karst islands from the deck of a small wooden boat, low to deep jade water in the late afternoon.

    Once you are here

    The reason for
    the two flights

    Forty-five islands, most of them a boat ride from the beach the wedding is on. Come three days early and this is what you do with them.

    Bacuit Bay, from the water

    What to book, and when

    Four dates that matter

    April is peak season in El Nido and the small aircraft fill early. These are the dates after which this gets harder, not impossible.

    Nov 2026

    Flights into Manila and on to Lio The Lio strip takes small aircraft and April fills first. This is the one date worth setting a reminder for.

    15 Jan 2027

    The room block at Casa Marikit Held under “Hana & Kenji” until the fifteenth, then released to the public.

    1 Mar 2027

    Your RSVP So there is a seat, a bowl and a van with your name on it.

    14 Apr 2027

    Be on the island Come three days early if you can. Nobody has ever regretted three days in El Nido.
    The garden terrace at Casa Marikit in daylight, plain paper lanterns strung between the trees.
    The garden, in the middle of the afternoon — where dinner is, once the lanterns are lit

    Where to stay

    Three roofs, in order of walking distance

    A guest room at Casa Marikit, shutters open onto the garden.
    • Casa MarikitOn the property · block held to 15 January
    • The Lio Estate guesthousesFive to fifteen minutes on foot
    • El Nido townTwenty minutes south · cheaper, louder, further

    The road

    The sealed road down through the estate to the beach, palms either side.

    Everything on the estate is walkable and the shuttle does the rest. Phone signal is fine at the venue and patchy on the road north.

    Invented for this design study, like Casa Marikit itself. On a real Wedsite these are the couple's own three picks, with booking codes.

    Before you fly

    Six things worth knowing

    ₱

    Philippine peso

    Cards work at the resorts, the airline and Lio Airport. Bring cash from Manila for tricycles, the market, and the environmental fee on arrival — a couple of hundred pesos, roughly, and unavoidable.

    32°

    April, in the shade

    The driest, hottest stretch of the year here, which is exactly why the date is in it. The ceremony is under cover and the water is twenty steps away.

    18:20

    Sunset on the day

    Which is the whole reason the ceremony is at half past three. Everything after dinner is lit by lanterns and a string of bulbs.

    GMT+8

    No daylight saving

    An hour behind Tokyo, the same clock as Singapore and Hong Kong. Nothing shifts while you are here.

    220V

    Flat pins, type A

    American plugs on European voltage. If you are coming from the UK or Europe you want an adapter; almost nobody needs a converter.

    15kg

    Checked, on the small plane

    The Lio leg is a turboprop and the allowance is smaller than your international one. Pack the suit in the cabin bag.

    Everything above is approximate and none of it is a price for this wedding — the fee is the public one and the numbers are seasonal averages.

    The Japanese half

    Words you will hear on the dayWords you heard on the day

    Kenji's family is from Osaka and the ceremony borrows from a Shinto one. None of this is a test — but knowing what is happening makes the middle twenty minutes much better.

    Kenji's family is from Osaka and the ceremony borrowed from a Shinto one. Now you know what the middle twenty minutes were.

    三三九度

    san-san-kudō

    Three sips each from three cups, nine in total. It ties the two families rather than the two people — which is why both mothers are watching so closely.

    乾杯

    kanpai

    The toast that opens dinner. Glass up, said loudly, all at once. This is the only part anyone will ask you to do.

    花見

    hanami

    Sitting under blossom on purpose. There is no cherry on Palawan, so they have brought the idea and left the tree.

    線香花火

    senkō hanabi

    The small sparklers at nine. They burn down to a trembling ball and drop. Holding one steady to the end is the entire game.

    Take something home

    Obaachan’s umeshu

    Four of you asked for it. Kenji’s grandmother has been making it every June for sixty years, and this is the first time anyone has written it down.

    A short glass of amber umeshu over one large ice cube with a single red plum in it, on a wooden tray beside a folded linen cloth and a recipe card turned face down.

    Umeshu, plum wine

    One four-litre jar · an hour’s work · then a year

    You need

    • 1 kg green ume, firm and unbruised
    • 700 g rock sugar
    • 1.8 litres white shōchū, 35%
    • A 4-litre glass jar with a wide mouth, scalded and dried
    • A bamboo skewer

    Then

    1. Wash the ume and soak them in cold water for two to four hours, to take out the bitterness.
    2. Dry every one completely. Water left on a plum spoils the jar.
    3. Lift out each little stem with the skewer, without breaking the skin.
    4. Layer the plums and the rock sugar in the jar, plums first, then pour in the shōchū and close it.
    5. Keep it somewhere cool and dark. Tilt the jar every few days until the sugar is gone.
    6. It is drinkable at three months. Obaachan says a year. We say the anniversary.

    Under the steps

    Feed the koi

    There is a real pool under the stone steps at Casa Marikit, and the staff would rather you did not feed that one. Tap this one instead.

    Nothing is saved here. It is the same pond every time you come back.

    The garden terrace after dark.

    When you have booked itA year on

    Tell them you
    are coming    Come back
    for the cups

    Put your flight in the message and a van will be at Lio with your name on it.

    Tell us your flight and a van will be at Lio with your name on it, again.

    Reply to the invitation

    The guestbook

    The garden, after dark